Inside the Top 100 Firms for 2023

March 29, 2023 4:31 PM

2022 was an extraordinary year for Accounting Today's Top 100 Firms, with a staggering average growth rate of 18.55%, and similarly strong growth in their partner and employee figures — all recorded while the country was still emerging from the COVID pandemic.

With the entry of private equity money into the accounting landscape, M&A continued to be a major driver of growth — but so did organic growth and the push to advisory services, with an ever-larger share of firm revenues coming from consulting work.

Despite managing to boost their headcounts significantly, the Top 100 remain deeply concerned about staffing (see "What's keeping firm leaders up at night?"), along with keeping up with technology, better managing their client rosters and more.

We've served up a selection of key statistics from this list below, and you can see the full report (including our Regional Leaders rankings) here.

AT-032923-T100-10 year growth rates GRAPH

The Top 100 Firms' 2022 growth rate more or less quadrupled from 2021, thanks largely to strong performance among the Big Four and the other billion-dollar firms, whose revenues make up such a large percentage of the overall total that they can be a drag on growth — or a booster engine.

AT-032923-T100- 26 year growth rates GRAPH

Over the long term, in 2022 the Top 100 Firms had the third-highest growth rate since we began the survey in 1994. It's only lower than 1997 and 1998, which combined a frenzy of accounting firm M&A and consolidator roll-ups with the run-up to Y2K to turbocharge firm earnings.

Fully 81 of the Top 100 Firms reported double-digit growth, and 13 grew by more than 30%.

AT-032923-T100-Growth cohorts Year over year GRAPH

A significant number of the Top 100 went from growth in the high single digits to reporting growth about 10%.

AT-032923-T100-Number of billion dollar firms GRAPH

Perhaps the most high-profile result of all this growth was the addition of four new billion-dollar firms: Marcum, Moss Adams, Baker Tilly and Crowe.

The Top 100 Firms' top clients remained much the same as in previous years.

Among practice offerings, CAS continues its relentless campaign to become the single-most important service that firms offer — though attest is hanging on in its traditional No. 1 spot.

While the differences are small from year to year, the rising percentage of T100 revenues coming from consulting is consistent, and holds true no matter the size of the firm.

AT-032923-T100-Revenue per employee GRAPH

In terms of revenue per employee, the different cohorts are not very far apart, ranging between roughly $200,00 and $250,000.

AT-032923-T100-Revenue per partner GRAPH

But when it comes to revenue per partner, the difference between the 14 billion-dollar firms at the top of the list and the rest is stark, suggesting that the ability of partners to leverage larger teams is a game-changer.

AT-032923-T100-Employee growth YoY GRAPH

The Top 100 reported that staffing was by far the biggest issue, but every size cohort grew their average headcount by double digits — helped, no doubt, by large numbers of acquisitions: The T100 reported a total of 119 mergers in 2022.

AT-032923-T100-Growth in partners YoY GRAPH

What's more, they also managed significant expansions of their partner ranks — again helped by M&A.

AT-032923-T100-Equity partners versus non-equity GRAPH

The number of non-equity partners continued to grow, though it remains an option primarily for firms below the $1 billion mark.